


Beyond a Barricade of Roots

by tatertotarmy



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Torture, Canon Divergence - Season 3 Episode 12, Gen, Graphic Description, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-09-06 21:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8770129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatertotarmy/pseuds/tatertotarmy
Summary: Natori arrives to investigate a series of disappearances and reappearances of citizens in a certain town overrun by youkai. What begins as a simple yet strange job becomes a larger puzzle, the largest piece being Natsume Takashi, a boy who vanished from his foster home two years ago.





	1. Arrival

_”Nobody’s waiting for you, are they?”_

_He felt himself fall to his knees, clinging to the youkai in a desperation that faltered with every breath._

_“You don’t understand…” he was holding back tears, trying to force the words through his throat without breaking, “For a human to go missing…it’ll only trouble them more…”_

_He could feel the youkai’s eye peering down on him._

_“What a pain. Perhaps I should devour them instead.”_

_“No!” he was on his feet again, his fists turning white around the papery texture of the youkai, “Please…no…”_

_His eyes were obscured by tears, blurring the world around him until a muddled white was all he could see._

_“I-I’ll do anything…just don’t hurt them.”_

_After all, it was his fault it had all come to this in the first place._

_He felt the youkai chuckle. Then, nothing._

\--

“You’ve been there before, if my resources are correct.”

The train was quiet aside from the patter of rain on the glass and the steady hum of the engine. Natori stared out to blurred trees between raindrops, ignoring the reflection of some girls trying to hide their glances at him. He pressed the phone harder into his ear, and kept a stiff arm over the large yellow envelope in his lap. Sometimes, interested girls were the most dangerous to take calls around. Always too curious for their own good.

“Yes, but only to exorcise one youkai,” Natori’s breath fogged part of the glass as he thought back to the job. It hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary. It had even been close to a location for his ‘real’ acting job. Honestly, he remembered the acting with more clarity than the actual youkai. A masked youkai with one painted eye on it with a rope around its neck. It hadn’t even put up a fight.

“You might be seeing that town more often, if activity keeps spiking in the area.”

“Who else is working there?” Natori could trace the approaching town between the trees. He looked back down to the file. The lizard youkai on his skin crawled around the back of his hand, moving in circles until settling on his index finger.

“Primarily the Matoba clan.”

Natori took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, “Why am I not surprised?”

“They’re mainly working with the reports within town. As long as you do your job, you shouldn’t run into any trouble.”

“Good.” If Natori ran into their leader again, he might get a wrinkle on his perfect skin. “I’ll review the files and start looking tonight.”

Just as Natori ended his last syllable, he heard the line click on the other end. Typical for an exorcist contact to be like that. He sighed, closing his phone and putting it in his pocket. Beside him, the rain pattered harder on the window. It wasn’t going to stop raining by the time he arrived, would it? 

His eyes wandered down to the file on his lap – his job, essentially. It was a collection of police files that were desperately given to the exorcists after a thousand dead ends. After all, it was a thousand dead ends that drove the police to turn towards exorcists. Most of the files told the same, strange story. Someone would disappear for days on end, only to be found alive near the edge of the tree line. They would be starving, sometimes injured, and completely unaware that they had even been gone. It was a strange phenomenon, made stranger only by increased youkai activity centered around the quaint town. 

The town had been off the radar for exorcists for so long that a huge spike caught everyone off-guard. Natori had only flipped through a few of the jobs before the kidnapping case, and they were all strange – reports of a youkai cursing the elderly residents of a house, increases in the number of sealed youkai escaping their bonds, various attacks towards priests who couldn’t even see youkai, and an increased report of the youkai searching for someone or something called ‘Reiko’. 

Honestly, if this kept up, he wouldn’t be surprised if a clan set up shop. If he didn’t have another job to take care of, he might have been tempted. For now, Natori was content with visits rather than extended stays in the world of exorcists.

The tree line gave way to a green field drenched in rain, and soon the train began to slow towards the station. Natori stood up, clutching the envelope tightly as he flashed some girls a devilish smile. 

Before he stepped away from his seat, he felt eyes on him. His head snapped to the window, where two white eyes were peering at him from shadows. They stared right into him, as if it were looking into his body. 

Natori blinked. The eyes were gone, along with whatever shadow it had been with.

A shiver went down his spine. He was definitely in the world of exorcists now.

He walked quickly through the train, and then the station, going through until he was sheltered by an overhang outside. By then, the rain had become a thick downpour over the small town, as if the very gods had cursed this place. His hand reached down to his shoulder bag, feeling for the umbrella he probably left behind. As he dug, he kept a careful eye out for whatever he had seen outside the window, but only saw curtains of rain and natural shadows.

His hand found nothing. He had actually forgotten an umbrella. Showed the luck he had.

He raised his hand out from his bag and quietly snapped. On the breath of the wind, his two servants appeared in the rain, standing readily at attention.

“I need the two of you to keep a watch on the southern tree line. If anything strange happens, come to me immediately,” Natori ordered, recalling where the most victims had been left. The two youkai bowed, and left as quickly as they had arrived. Hopefully only two would be enough to watch the entire area…though he had faith his servants could pull it off. He didn’t take just any youkai as a familiar, after all.

However…the question of how he would get to the inn was a bit muddled at that point. Natori usually didn’t care. It wasn’t like rain tarnished good looks, after all. But he didn’t want to risk his job files getting wet. They were hard enough to read as it is, and rain would just make them completely illegible. 

“Hello? Um…would you like to share an umbrella, sir?”

He looked down to see one of the girls from the train, blushing so hard that it looked as though she might burst. Natori flashed his soon-to-be-award-winning smile and chuckled when she got even more flustered.

“I would love that, especially if I get to share with such a cute girl.”

Might as well have some fun before the job began.

\--

_He trembled against the dirt wall, taking in shaken breaths like it was normal to him. He couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t trembling within the dirt wall. He couldn’t remember when the rope wasn’t around his neck. He couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t afraid, clinging to the light that fell between the roots above._

_At one point he counted the days. Now, days blurred into nights and he couldn’t tell whether the light was from the moon or the sun._

_A noise. A shifting of the cage of roots._

_From above, a man, unconscious, still breathing._

_“Look what you’ve done, Natsume…”_

_He shook harder, eyes tearing back to the ground when a shadow grew from the roots, descending to the other side of the cave._

_“You must have been making noise, weren’t you?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thinking of all the things that would have happened if Natsume hadn't been present is a huge challenge. Even taking away strictly-youkai issues...it's hard.
> 
> Anyway, welcome to my new fanfic for Natsume. It's been an idea I've had for a long time, and I hope I share it well! I actually don't know how long it will be...


	2. Lost and Found

_His stomach hurt._

_It always hurt now._

_He was slouched over in the dirt, eyes glazed over towards the spiderweb of roots above. He couldn’t find the strength to get up. He would push up and he couldn’t even get his head up. Pained noises from his torso filled the silence. Fire burned in his stomach. Was this how it felt to be hungry? He remembered starving once, a long time ago. This was worse, like his body was eating itself alive._

_Was this how he was going to die?_

_Maybe he would die._

_Maybe he should have died a long time ago._

_“Ah, Natsume.”_

_He flinched, closing his eyes when a layer of white melted through the roots, descending into his cage. The heat of the light left his face, and he soon felt an avalanche of round objects fall in front of his face._

_“I forgot that pets needed to eat.”_

_The rope around his neck pulled up. Natsume yelped, opening his eyes to see a shadowy figure with veiny white eyes pulling it. He jumped in his skin, looking away from the shadow to see a bunch of apples on the ground._

_“Eat.”_

_The youkai’s voice was deeper than before. He didn’t know why. He was afraid to know why._

_Natsume just sat up motionless, only hanging by the rope that dug into his neck._

_“If you’re going to be stubborn, Natsume, then I’ll have to do it for you.”_

_Another shadow bounded from behind the youkai, fetching an apple and carrying it up to Natsume’s lips. He kept his mouth shut, some fire burning in his mind still. Some stubbornness from before he was taken as the youkai’s pet._

_Suddenly, his jaw was forced open. Another shadow crept behind him, keeping hold of his jaw and forcing him to eat the apple. And another. And another. The entire time, the white youkai chuckled as if he were a stubborn dog getting scolded._

_Fifteen minutes later, he puked it all up._

\--

“Thank you for walking me home,” she spoke, bowing her head to conceal a faint blush on her cheeks. She was still close to him, under the umbrella.

“Anything for a beautiful woman such as yourself,” Natori smiled, handing off her umbrella back to her. Before he could walk away and head back to the inn, she handed off the umbrella back to him.

“You still have to get back, right?” she waited until he took the umbrella back before taking a step back into the rain, “You can have it. Goodbye!” With a small wave, the woman rushed into her home, giving him another wave before shutting the door.

Natori sighed, looking up at the umbrella. Well…it looked like he had a new umbrella. Shame it had to be polka-dot pink.

“Oh? And here I thought exorcists came here on jobs.”

Natori forced in a groan. It looked like he was going to get a new wrinkle today. 

“I am here on a job,” Natori turned his head to face the leader of the Matoba clan, dressed in a business suit with a small group of shiki behind him. One of the shiki was even holding up an umbrella for Matoba, which Natori had to hold in a snort for. Was there a shiki who fed Matoba grapes, too?

Matoba chuckled, wearing that shit-eating grin that Natori always hated, “Really? I suppose you’re here for your real job, then?”

“I’m here on my own business. That’s all I’m going to say.”

“Ah, so flirting.”

“Gathering information.”

“Not the kind of information that’s useful for the rest of us, I imagine.”

“Look…” Natori ran a hand through his hair, adjusting his glasses, “I’m here on exorcist business. It’s a job for the Natori clan. Stay in your own affairs, Matoba.”

“Fine, fine,” Matoba shrugged, “My schedule is too busy as it is. Though…I am interested to learn what lies in those woods.”

Natori remained silent. Of course Matoba would know which job he took. Typical.

“Hm. No matter, I’ll learn after I’ve finished my duties. As should you,” Matoba strode past him, the entourage of shiki trailing not far behind. Natori stared after them as they vanished into the heavy rain. He stood there for a while, dried by perhaps the girliest thing now in his possession. He was honestly surprised that Matoba hadn’t pointed the umbrella out as well. 

Natori took a step away, retracing his steps back to the inn.

“Master Natori.”

He stopped, looking towards the center of the street, where a familiar with two prominent horns appeared, “Sasago, did something happen?”

She nodded, “We found a human.”

In seconds, they were running, Sasago tracing the way back with Natori following. Around them, the rain fell even harder, until everything around them turned a foggy gray. When the fog parted to a line of trees, Natori saw his other familiar standing above a human lurched over on the ground, not moving.

“Hey!” Natori called out, rushing towards the man and kneeling down in the mud beside him. It was a businessman, by the looks of it. A suit long since ruined with mud, scratches, and flecks of blood. The white button-up beneath was dyed a mixture of red and brown, with some cuts in the fabric revealing scabbed up wounds. Natori reached down to shake the man, only to get no response. He quickly checked for a pulse.

Still beating. Good.

He looked up, “Did you see what dumped him here?”

“No…though we did feel a large presence come by,” Sasago answered, bowing her head slightly, “I apologize. It was too quick to give chase.”

Natori sighed, holding the umbrella over the man, “Fine. Continue to keep watch. I’ll – ”

_”You want to know, don’t you?”_

A voice whispered in his mind, sending goosebumps down his spine. It was deep, powerful, like nothing he had ever felt before. Natori immediately jumped up, pulling a paper seal from his pocket. 

_”Why don’t you find out?”_

Eyes were on him. He looked into the line of the forest to see an inky shadow, the same one he had seen on the train. Blank, white eyes lined with red veins stared at him. Natori blinked, and a flash of the woods came to view. 

“Shit!” Natori cursed beneath his breath as he immediately sent the seal bounding towards the shadow. His familiars got on both sides of him, ready to defend their master if necessary. But the shadow only vanished, leaving the seal firmly embedded on a tree trunk.

_”Come soon. It’s going to be so boring without a guest.”_

Silence. Natori tried to see where the voice came from, but saw no nearby youkai, either from the tree line or from behind.

“I can’t sense anything,” Sasago spoke, still at the ready.

It looked like his familiars couldn’t hear the voice. So…it was just him?

He looked forward, then back down at the man. There were exorcists in town, right?

“I need you two to take this man to town. Find another exorcist and tell them that I sent you, and make sure this man gets treatment. Tell them that I am covering all expenses,” Natori spoke carefully.

“What? Master Natori, I object! You should have at least one of us with you!” Sasago huffed.

“If I’m in trouble, I’ll summon you,” Natori pulled out a small, man-shaped slip to show his familiars, “If not, then find me in a day’s time. This man needs treatment, and I have a job to do.”

“But…fine.”

Natori flashed a smile at her before setting the umbrella beside the man.

“I’ll be back before you know it.”

\--

_Natsume heard footsteps._

_He covered his mouth._

_His hand trembled. He was afraid it would let a breath out. He was afraid they would hear his trembles and come find him._

_He didn’t want them to be hurt._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the quickest you'll see me update~
> 
> This chapter and chapter one were supposed to be a big giant first chapter, but I got frustrated in putting together the two parts so now you get two shorter chapters~ Enjoy~


	3. Captured

_He looked out through the roots, avoiding the eye that peered from the other side of his cage._

_“You’re not as entertaining now, Natsume.”_

_Natsume was silent, adjusting the rope around his neck. Before, the youkai had enjoyed the chases. Enjoyed hunting him the second he tried to run. It was easy then, above the roots where the sun warmed his skin._

_Not that he remembered why he had ran in the first place. He had nothing to defend, nothing to go to. Why he ever tried to run from her in the first place, he didn’t know._

_Why he tried to run from any youkai in his life was a mystery. All he had done was delay the inevitable._

_“Pets are supposed to be entertaining.”_

_The youkai grabbed his rope, hoisting him up to his feet and continued even further. His neck began to burn, his breaths becoming more desperate. He clawed up to the rope, trying to get it off as the youkai stared at him with an eye twisted like it was enjoying his struggles. Like this was the entertainment she was looking for._

_Natsume cried out with what little breath he had. He was going to die. He didn’t want to die._

_“Hello?”_

_An unfamiliar voice. Female. Young, no older than twenty. There was a shadow cast on the roots, a blurred face looking down on him._

_“Are you alright? Did you fall down there?”_

_The youkai dropped him._

_She smiled._

_He had forgotten what fear felt like until then._

\--

His lungs grew raw, his body dampened as he ran through the trees, following the inky trail of the shadowy youkai. Natori felt the rain pelt down harder, making his clothes stick to him and his hair fall over his eyes. He had long since taken off his glasses, now stashed away in his front pocket.

This was definitely a trap. What youkai would purposely seek out a human like that if not to do something harmful? Still, he had to take the chance of something happening. What other choice did he have? That businessman looked in worse shape than what he read about in the past reports. Whatever happened to the humans that vanished, it was only going to get worse. That youkai had something to do with the disappearances, and possibly even more circumstances in that tiny town. He needed to chase it.

Youkai usually didn’t expect exorcists to cross their paths. If this youkai was expecting a normal human to follow, then they went after the wrong man. 

Though, he had used that seal. If the youkai still drew him in after that…what did that mean?

He saw the youkai bound over a fallen, thick tree. Natori slowed down and hoisted himself over the tree trunk, keeping his eyes on the youkai as it flew between a line of bushes. Just as Natori had a foot over one side, he began to jump the rest of the way over.

Something wrapped around his ankle. Something soft, firm, cold. 

He fell down towards the mud, his shin knocking into the tree trunk. Natori winced, trying to get back up to see what had grabbed him. He wiped some mud from his face and felt for his glasses to make sure they hadn’t been crushed, but before he could look behind him, he felt the eyes.

Eyes, peering through the dark. White eyes that glowed. No pupils to tell where they looked, but Natori could feel it. He felt them staring right into him, through him, like snakes wrapping around his entire being. A shiver went down his spine. He had to remind himself to move. To reach into his back pocket for his seals.

Before his fingers even reached his pockets, he heard a snap.

Then, white.

White, a pain that blocked out everything. His ears became static, his eyes became white, everything became white. His mouth was open, his throat raw. He couldn’t hear himself. All he could feel was the pain. He turned his head, blinking away the white to see a black shadow, inky tendrils wrapped around an arm that should not be bending the way it was. He tried to move, but even inch made the tendrils grow tighter, and even more white coursed through his veins.

A voice broke through white noise.

“Shut him up.”

A deep, masculine voice. The same as before.

A shadow from the trees flew towards him, past the one around his arm until it enveloped him. His mouth was forced open. Then, the taste of ink. Ink poured down his throat. Natori gagged, convulsing through the white. He tried to lift his other hand to pull the youkai out, but he felt another grip on it, forcing it hard into the mud. 

He couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t breathe as the youkai slowly vanished from his gaze and down, down his throat until it welled up like a ball in the pit of his stomach. The taste of ink consumed him, slowly casting a veil of numb only penetrated by white. When he could breathe again, his breath made no sound.

Natori desperately panted for air, taking in breaths like it would wash out the ink. He felt the youkai squirming inside of him, making him gag. It felt disgusting. Wrong. 

Then, there was a change. His body fell limp in the mud. The white of his broken arm soon faded to an itch at the back of his mind. His eyes were barely able to focus. It was like trying to blink back something in his eye, a blur he could never get rid of. 

Natori screamed on the inside, trying to will himself to move. He had the seals in his bag. He needed to get out of there. He needed to call his familiars. But his body wasn’t obeying. All he could muster was a twitch of his fingers. 

He screamed out, trying to at least force out something. Nothing escaped his lips. Not even the sound of his frantic breaths.

“What have you found here? Have my followers taken an interest in exorcists?”

A spike of power coursed through his body. A strong youkai had just entered the area. The voice was a deep, velvet, feminine tone. Through the blurs, Natori saw a ghostly youkai part through the darkness of the trees with a color akin to paper. It had white hair parted in the center to give way to a large eye, wide with red veins lining the edges. Its pupil was pure black, like a void. It had a large, toothy grin that seemed ever-present on its face.

A larger shadow, much larger than the rest, quickly appeared at its side. Natori felt the shadows on his arms slink away. He tried to get up and fight back, but his body was resisting. He felt the ball in his stomach slink around. He felt sick.

“Perhaps you would wish for a more interesting pet, master,” the large shadow spoke, in the same masculine voice that Natori heard before.

“I already have a pet. And he already had a visitor. I don’t want to risk an exorcist.”

“Yes, but surely a powerful master such as yourself can take another. I can make him docile. Perhaps he could provide…entertainment for your other pet? Feed off another, if he provides power?”

The feminine youkai was silent for a while, “Hm, you do have a point. You’ll keep him like this?”

“Of course, master. I can keep the other exorcists far from this place. Perhaps I can find some bones to lure them away.”

“Hm…” the feminine youkai looked down on Natori, observing him, taking in everything. Natori squirmed on the inside. The ball inside of him slithered, like a warning for him not to do anything. What was the point of a warning? He couldn’t even move.

Then, it smiled a wide, toothy grin, “Perhaps I can see how Natsume likes it.”

Natori perked up at the name. Natsume? Was that the name of a youkai?

The lead shadow bowed to it, and the shadows from the trees jumped out and swarmed him. Natori couldn’t do anything as he was lifted up and hoisted out of the mud. He felt the mud drip from his skin, his hair, his clothes. He felt his broken arm itch at the back of his mind. He felt the ball in his stomach move inside of him, like it was learning everything about his body.

As he was carried through the woods, some puke dripped from his mouth. Even then, he was too numb to throw up properly. The ball twitched in his stomach, and eventually forced the rest of the bile from his throat.

He could barely focus through it all. He would blink and see a clearing, then another to see himself in the forest again. The only constants were the shadows below and the papery youkai leading the way. It was when they stopped that the shadow inside of him send some shock through his system, forcing him into full consciousness. 

They were beside a large tree, with thick roots spreading from the trunk to the edge of the clearing it stood in. He could see that some of the dirt around the roots had eroded, giving way to an inky blackness. Even in his cursed state, he could see that the rain did not go through the holes, instead hitting an invisible barrier and rolling down to each root. There was something down there. A youkai’s home? A cave?

From Natori’s perspective, it looked like a cage.

Some of the shadows left Natori to pull on the roots, creating a small gap that a human could barely get through. The rest carried Natori over to the gap, the papery youkai only watching with its ever-present smile, and he was tossed down below.

Natori collapsed to the ground, directly into his broken arm, sending a huge irritation to his delirious mind. Above, he watched the shadows let go, and the roots instantly formed back into place. A cage, just as he thought. The size of a large closet, with roots covering the top and even travelling along the dirt walls. Natori could see some sort of glimmer from the roots, as if they had been placed under some sort of spell. To keep something in.

A sharp gasp filled the room.

Natori lulled his head towards one of the walls covered in roots, where a figure sat trembling, only a foot or so away from him.

A human boy.

Natori stared, watching the boy slowly lower a hand that had been over his mouth. He was thin, entirely too thin. His clothes draped over him, too large for him, and underneath the white button-up he wore, Natori could trace bone. His skin was pale, as if it had been years since he saw the sun. Long, straight blond hair messily fell to his chest with split ends, parted in the center to give way to amber eyes lined with dark circles. Around his neck was a thick, brown rope, tied like a leash, the end of which disappeared into the roots. Beneath the rope were two prominent hand-shaped bruises.

What the fuck was going on here?

The papery youkai slipped through the roots, melting through without even disturbing the roots.

“I-I…” the boy breathed in shaky breaths, looking up at the papery youkai with wide eyes, “B-But…I-I didn’t. I didn’t make any noise!”

The youkai chuckled darkly. 

Natori was still, his only movement the twitch of his fingers, trying to form a fist.

\--

_”You keep a pet?”_

_Natsume was stirred awake by a voice above the roots. He could see a shadow above him, as well as the youkai who took him away. He couldn’t tell by the sight – the roots blurred everything above, giving everything a small, fuzzy border – but he knew the color. He would always know that color._

_“Oh yes,” she spoke, “It entertains me.”_

_“Really? Have you given it a name?”_

_“I decided to let it keeps its name. It’s Natsume.”_

_“Natsume?”_

_There was a pause in the conversation. Too long._

_Above him, the shadow shifted, and Natsume felt a shiver go down his spine._

_“So its name is Natsume…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a bad writer. Instead of working on a bunch of Secret Santa prompts for Tumblr exchanges, I write more of this.


	4. The Cage of Roots

His breaths became steady, arrow firmly drawn and pointed towards the closed sliding door. Matoba stood tall amongst the empty room, and he could faintly hear the whispers of footsteps fill the hall. A gentle rhythm that rose to the rapid beat of a drum. He kept his eye locked on the center of the door, arrow pointed at a cross between two wooden beams.

Two seals were tied to the shaft of the arrow. Two would be enough to kill it.

In a single breath, the door slammed open, his shiki desperately crawling inside and out of the way of the arrow’s intended path. Behind was the target: a large, black youkai with two large eyes and a wide mouth full of square teeth. In its mouth, Matoba could see one of his shiki already sliding down its throat. One minor casualty in the pursuit of the real target: a territorial youkai too troublesome to tame, one that would just try to claim a home for itself rather than provide any use to an exorcist.

After all, Matoba had no need to drive anyone out of a home. In the foreseeable future, at least.

Just as the youkai lurched into the arrow’s line of sight, Matoba focused on breathing.

In.

Out.

In.

As Matoba released his breath, he let go of the bowstring. Before his breath fully left his lips, the arrow sunk right into the youkai, piercing it through with a blinding blue light that filled up the room, reflecting off the rain on the other side of the window. It cast a long, dark shadow against his form, stretching it until his black silhouette filled the back wall. As the final sigh of his breath left his lips, he heard the desperate screams of the territorial youkai fade into the concerned calls of the client below.

“Oh dear! Is everything alright up there?”

The arrow fell to the ground, seals scorched black. It took only seconds before the entire arrow dissolved into thin ash.

Matoba gracefully put away the bow to the holder on his back, stepping over his shiki on the way out of the room. He looked down the hallway, where a concerned woman with frazzled brown hair looked at him from the stairs, her hands nervously placed to her heart.

“Sorry, Mrs. Fujiwara. I happened to spot a mouse, and I got quite startled,” Matoba lied, walking back towards the stairs as if nothing happened. He heard his shiki slink in line behind him.

“Oh my! A mouse!” she exclaimed, before bowing her head in an apology, “I’m sorry…nobody ever goes up there. If I had known, I would have cleaned.”

“Oh, it’s quite alright,” Matoba replied with a small wave, walking past her to head back down the stairs, “I’ve just finished purifying your home. I trust your husband will feel better soon.”

“Thank you very much. Are you leaving already? Would you like some tea before you leave?” the older woman descended the stairs behind him.

He wasn’t getting paid to spend time with clients. Though…she didn’t know he was getting paid for this. For all she knew, he was a priest helping ease the minds of a town in turmoil.

“I apologize, but I must be headed to the next home,” Matoba answered, a small smile gracing his face, walking towards the door and giving a small bow. Around the woman, his shiki crawled towards him to keep in line. If this woman knew that she was surrounded by such creatures, how would she react? 

“Oh, I understand. You must be busy, I’m sure the temple is very busy right now!” she spoke, “Thank you again…I’m sure Shigeru will feel much better.”

If this woman knew he was an exorcist…wouldn’t that be a curious scenario?

After small goodbyes, Matoba stepped outside with his umbrella in hand – no use in scaring Mrs. Fujiwara if she were to step outside to see a floating umbrella – and pulled out a cell phone to report on another home checked off the list. One home marked off on a list of many reported to have…issues. 

But before he dialed the number, he saw a whisper of a shadow. A small speck of darkness in the rain, specked with two white eyes.

That was certainly curious.

He felt another presence, and he turned his head to see another such creature, a shadow dripping down the wall of the property, as if it were to fill the gap that the territorial youkai created. It was natural for aggressive youkai like that to prevent others from taking residence…but for youkai to know it perished so close to its passing…

Another shadow leaked over the wall, its white eyes rolling down until they locked eyes with him.

_You know, don’t you?_

Matoba stiffened, feeling something slink around in his brain.

_About Reiko._

In two breaths, Matoba pulled out a seal and slapped it onto the small gate of the household, vaporizing every shadow within in a small shine of light.

“My…” Matoba whispered, stepping off the property and placing yet another seal along the gate for good measure, “Another mention of Reiko? This is certainly curious…” He looked back on the house, and he could see other shadows gathering beside the wall, but stopping short of being harmed. Matoba looked towards his shiki, and beckoned for them to move. To keep watch. To make sure whatever those youkai wanted wouldn’t be acquired. 

As his shiki left his side to chase away the shadows, he quickly pulled out his phone and dialed the right number.

“This is Matoba Seiji,” he spoke as soon as he heard the other end pick up, “I’ve finished cleaning the Fujiwara residence. I’ll be moving onto the next home.”

\--

“I-I…” the boy breathed in shaky breaths, looking up at the papery youkai with wide eyes, “B-But…I-I didn’t. I didn’t make any noise!”

The papery youkai chuckled, its deep tone sending shivers down Natori’s spine, stilling even the smallest tremble of his fingers, “Of course not, Natsume. I’ve just decided to take a new pet.”

“W-What?” the boy – Natsume – took in a sharp breath, looking down at Natori with wide eyes before facing the youkai again, “N-No! I’m enough, aren’t I? Y-You don’t need to take – ”

“Hm? Is there a problem?” the youkai leaned in closer to Natsume, “Perhaps I can fix that problem. Remember when you wouldn’t eat, Natsume? You’re so strange sometimes…” From the wall of roots the boy was tied to, a shadow leaked in to sit on his shoulder stretching black tendrils to brush against his throat. The very touch of the shadow caused a change in Natsume. All muscles became stiff, wide eyes froze, and an open mouth was completely dried out. Fear. 

Natsume slowly closed his mouth, beginning to tremble as the shadow slumped over and crawled onto his torso, clinging to the baggy shirt. It was peering up at him, staring with those lifeless eyes.

“Now, is there a problem, Natsume?”

The boy slowly shook his head, eyes slowly lowering to the shadow on his shirt.

“Good…” the youkai chuckled, turning its head slightly to its single eye peered down to Natori’s numb body, “Let’s learn its name, Natsume. Speak.”

Natori felt a lurch inside of him, the ball squirming around in his stomach. It moved forward, brushing the inside of his skin before going up. Up to his throat until he couldn’t breathe again, up until it stopped right in the center of his throat. Before he could think to panic, there was a tug on his lungs, forcing precious air into his body. And when he exhaled, his voice crawled out even when his mind screamed for him to stop.

“N…Natori…” his choked-out words felt sick, as if they were covered in tar. Natori tried to stop breathing, but every breath was forced in and out. Every inhale was a breath of air after being underwater. Every exhale a kick in the stomach, forced out. He could hear every forced breath now, every wheeze filling the rooted cavern.

“Natori. Hm. It’ll do for a name,” the youkai spoke, looking back at Natsume.

Natsume was staring at Natori and trembled with every breath that poured from his mouth. Between breaths, Natori tried to get a better look at him, to try and make sense of why he was here. Was this child forced here, too? Forced to become a pet for this creature? Forced to breathe and speak with a shadow pulling the strings? Natori didn’t recognize his face, nor the name, if it was his real name. Dozens of missing person’s reports, and his face didn’t match any of them. If it wasn’t a recent disappearance…then how long? How long has it been since he saw the sun? How long did it take for the bones to well up from beneath his skin? Had there been other ‘pets,’ other slaves to this youkai?

The shadow on Natsume’s shirt crawled closer to his neck. Natsume began shaking again, breaking his gaze on Natori to look at the roots behind him.

“Well? How do you feel, Natsume? Are you nervous with a human back so soon? Do you want me to break his other arm?”

“No!” Natsume’s voice was strong, absolute, followed by a withered husk of power, “Anything but that…”

“Hm? So you’ll risk getting strangled again?” the youkai only laughed when Natsume flinched, “You’ve always been so strange.”

“I-It’s not…” Natsume gingerly reached up to his throat, where the bruises were, “I-I want to help him…please….”

“Unfortunately, this pet needs to learn discipline.”

Natori felt sharp pricks on the back of his mind. The ball in his throat shrank, fleeing back to the bottom of his stomach. Along with it, everything swelled back to his mind. The smell of the rain, the disgusting slush of a drenched shirt, the small pricks of broken glass from his front pocket, and white. 

He took in a sharp breath, turning his head towards his arm, where another shadow had wrapped around his broken arm, tightening until all of the pain came back once again.

Natori shook, letting out pained gasps for air. Every time he would get used to the pain, the shadow would shift, tightening its grasp until his hand tingled and moving the broken bone to different angles, to make sure it never settled in. 

And Natsume began to scream breathlessly, a quiet sound only muted by his fears and two hands over his mouth. His eyes were wide, glued to Natori’s twisting arm. 

“No matter how many times you see this, you’re always so predictable, Natsume,” the youkai whispered. Natori fought against the pain, struggling to turn his head without reeling. Between clenched eyes and shocks of white in his brain, he saw small pictures. The picture of the youkai leaning closer to Natsume, a clothy hand outstretched to touch his trembling frame. The picture of the youkai laying a hand on Natsume and giving off a steady glow.

And the feeling of the youkai’s presence getting stronger, causing Natori’s notice even between the white. It was a sight that Natori had seen before. And it pained him to confirm.

That youkai was feeding off Natsume. 

He had known of youkai that fed off of humans. Most of them just ate a human alive, but some fed on other aspects of humanity. 

Lifespan, memories, and emotion.

Natori couldn’t tell which. But he couldn’t let this happen. Not to anyone.

Natori huffed in pain, raising his free hand with a delicate tremble. If he could get to his seals, then he could do something. If he could at least reach the paper that could fly to his familiars, even that would be enough. Natori slowly felt around, giving a thankful breath of air when one finger touched his pocket.

From the inside, he felt the shadow move.

“This pet is being quite troublesome, isn’t he?”

His limbs immediately dropped to the ground, the white retreating to the itchy place in the back of his mind. Natori felt as if he were plunged back into deep waters, barely able to see the surface. He screamed for his hands to at least touch one of the seals, to at least expel whatever was inside of him. But his body didn’t obey. He was trapped inside his own body. The shadow slinked around his body as if it didn’t belong to him anymore. His head moved up without his permission, looking up at the papery youkai, who now turned its attention to him. 

Behind the youkai, Natsume was still, looking at him with empty, lifeless eyes.

“Tie our new pet up,” the youkai ordered, “Perhaps it will learn some respect when I return.” Shadows melted into the room, gathering around Natori as the youkai ascended back up, through the roots and into the rain. The shadows carried him up to the wall, propping him up next to Natsume. There was a brush against his throat, then a loop, and then a tight circle around his neck. A leash, he could only assume. He could move to see for himself. All he could do was sit against the wall, his head angled towards the roots above.

In the corner of his eye, he could see Natsume staring into space. His eyes held no life, his breaths were smooth and steady, and his frame was still. Natsume wasn’t there anymore, drained of whatever the youkai had taken from him.

Natori struggled against the numb again, to swim out of it, to untie himself and exorcist every damn youkai in this den. But his reply was stillness. His breathing made no sound again. 

But he couldn’t just lie there. He needed to move. He had to.

The youkai inside of him pulled.

Electricity sparked through his entire body.

Then, nothing.

\--

_”I can offer my assistance, master.”_

_The shadow was bowed deep into the grass._

_“You again?” the papery youkai spoke, arms full of apples, “And what do you expect in return?”_

_“Nothing at all, master,” the shadow slowly peered up at the other, “I wish to only serve one as powerful as yourself. I know things, Master. I can help you become even greater.”_

_“Well…” the paper youkai paused, considering it._

_“I don’t even have to be one servant, master.”_

_In seconds, the shadow grew smaller, instead separating into smaller shadows with similar eyes. In the center of the shadows was a larger one, a spokesperson for the rest._

_“Please, let me help you…master.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my goals as a fanfiction writer is to end up on a fanfiction recommendations page on TV Tropes. Too bad I write for series that don't have fanfiction pages on TV Tropes. 
> 
> Thank you for the support so far! I'm blown away that this fanfiction has gotten all this support when the story's only just kicking off!
> 
> Anyway, Season 5 ended yesterday and despite there only being 11 episodes, I'm satisfied. Plus, there's two more episodes being released in April I think...and Season 6 sometime next year! What is your favorite episode of the season? Mine is a tie between Taki's episode and the Fujiwara episode!


	5. Conversations

“How long has it been, now?”

A whisper in front of the clinic, ignored by everyone who passed by save for an annoyed looking exorcist. 

“Not a day yet.”

“But Master Natori might be – ”

“One day, Sasago. That’s how long he told us to wait.”

“It’s been twelve hours.”

Silence, followed by a soft shuffling of feet. In the shadows, a black-haired man watched and listened intently. 

Twelve hours missing, huh?

\--

Stinging, brushes of needles that pricked at the edge of his brain. Natori flinched, mind slowly crawling out of the deep hole it had found himself in. A sticky unconsciousness, a dreamless sleep haunted by the feeling of being watched. The white eye of the shadow youkai clung to his brain, wrapping around his inner self like tar. 

Instead of rested, Natori felt drained. He took in a sharp breath, and soon heard a panicked gasp in front of him. Slowly, Natori opened his eyes to see the boy – Natsume – staring at him, wide eyes peering through long strands of blond, hands hovering over his broken arm. 

Natori shifted a little, groaning when the movement brought more needles into the back of his brain, “S…Shit.”

“D-Don’t move. It’ll just make it hurt more,” a quiet voice with a tremble, like glass as it shattered on the ground. Natori silently complied, stilling himself against the tough bumps of roots behind him. In front of him, Natsume slowly withdrew his hands and scooted back as far as the rope around his neck would allow him. 

“I’m…not going to…hurt you,” Natori forced between the needles in his nerves and the shallow husk of his breath. Staying still made it better, but every rise of his chest would shift is arm, sending another wave of needles throughout his body. His arm looked rough. Black, snake-like bruises covered his arm like streaks of ink, with angry red blooming around the spot where the bone had broken. It throbbed, though strangely his arm was not bent as it was when the shadowy youkai twisted it. 

Natsume was silent, only electing to watch. Natori’s eyes lulled up, pausing to fully catch up on the situation. It was difficult to think clearly, though one question popped into mind.

“How long?” Natori took in a longer breath, “How long as that youkai kept you here?”

“Huh?” Natsume froze.

“The one eyed one.”

“You…” Natori could barely hear Natsume’s voice, as if the boy were talking to himself more than Natori, “You…can see them?”

Many emotions flashed through the boy’s face. Natori remembered each emotion well when he first discovered that others could see the monsters and the lizard on his skin, that they weren’t some fairy tale passed down in his family of former exorcists. Shock that there were others out there. Anger that none of the others with the gift told him. Happiness that he wasn’t the only freak. 

Though what Natsume primarily settled for was a small, bittersweet smile.

“How long have you been here?”

After the discovery, Natsume had returned back to Natori’s side, helping settle the bone. While Natori had been out, Natsume had tried to at least set the bone back in the proper spot. Apparently, Natsume had dealt with plenty of clean breaks. Natori didn’t ask if it was for Natsume’s own injuries, or for others that had become trapped there. He didn’t want to know that.

“I…don’t remember.”

There was a sudden jolt in Natori’s nerves after a shift; Natori bit down a hiss, “T…Then what do you remember?”

“E-Everything before this is clear. I was passed around a lot between families and…things get fuzzy after the youkai took me away.”

“Did it take you away?”

Natsume was silent for a moment, hands dropping from Natori’s arm, “I-I…said it was fine if it did. I think? T-That’s when it starts to get fuzzy.”

“Why would you go with this youkai?”

“Because she threatened my foster family.”

“What?”

Natsume looked down to the dirt, fists clenched and eyes focused like he was struggling to remember, “T…They didn’t like me. And the youkai knew it? I think. She took an interest in me…and said that she was going to make me her pet. I-I said that it would be a problem…a burden on my family if I didn’t come back…a-and she threatened to kill them.”

A burden on his family? Natori sighed. This kid had been approached by a youkai that wanted that…and all he could think about the burden on his family.

Natori heard all kinds of horror stories passed around in exorcist circles. Mainly about apprentices taken from outside the usual clans. It was always difficult to live with the gift with those who didn’t possess it. Natori knew that well enough.

That little piece of information was all that Natori needed to know where Natsume had come from. Natsume hadn’t even considered wanting to stay. Only that leaving would be a burden.

“And after? What about after you were captured?”

“I-It…gets really bad after that,” Natsume answered sheepishly, scooting over to lean against a rooted wall beside Natori, “She did…something to me. I blacked out when I accepted. The next thing I remember is being tied up here. But…it can’t be right. Because I felt like I had walked a really long way. I felt like it was a long time after…but I couldn’t remember.”

“Because it feasted on your memories.”

“Huh?”

Natori looked up at the ceiling of roots, taking in a murky sky above – daytime, couldn’t tell what time, “Some youkai enjoy consuming humans. One way to do it is by eating human memories. I saw it take something from you last night. Though…you do remember last night, right?”

“Y…Yea…”

“Did you feel drained? Unfeeling?”

“At the end.”

Natori sighed, looking back down at the kid, staring at him with wide eyes, “It was feeding off your extreme emotions, then. Does that…happen often?”

“M-Mainly when others are here.”

“Others…” Natori closed his eyes, remembering the very reason why he was here – the disappearances, “What do you mean by that?”

“I…don’t know a lot,” Natsume looked down at the ground, his long hair moving to the front so most of his face was covered – Natori could only see the boy’s face grow paler, “I-I was doing everything right. N-No…I wasn’t. That’s what happened. Sometimes I get too loud…and people find me. It’s not good when she finds people near me…a-and she takes them down here…a-and I try…b-but they keep getting hurt…a-and…”

Natsume trembled, mouth open to continue, but no words came out.

“Hey, don’t push yourself,” Natori wanted to put a comforting arm on the kid’s shoulder, to steady him back to reality, but he knew one movement would send him back into pain, “Your name’s Natsume, right? Don’t worry, we’re going to get out of here.”

Natsume slowly stopped shaking, and his head lulled back up to meet Natori’s eyes.

“Mr…Natori, right?”

Natori gave a quiet chuckle, “Don’t use Mr.”

“Natori…” Natsume rose a hand to part the hair in front of his face. It was the first-time Natori got a good look when he wasn’t completely inebriated by the shadow youkai. A pale face, a couple of tiny red scars over his chapped lips, skin clinging too close to the bone, dark shadows lining dull amber eyes, and a long, angry red rope mark scarred into his neck. His expression held a bittersweet look, with a small polite smile on his lips despite his eyes watering up in the corners.

“A lot of people told me they would help me. S-Some of them…would think I was causing all of their pain. The ones that still wanted to help…they never came back,” Natsume looked at Natori with decreasing composure, “I don’t want to hear that again. Y-You can see them…but you also have that…youkai inside of you.”

“Yes, but – ”

“I-I’ve had it inside me before. You can’t do anything when it’s there. It’s just waiting…” Natsume sniffed, still struggling to maintain his smile, “I-I’m sorry that you got wrapped up in this, Natori. T-This is my fault.”

“No it isn’t,” Natori reached out to grab Natsume’s shoulder with his good arm, swallowing down a thousand needles of pain when his body shifted, “No matter what, it isn’t.”

“T-Then…who else?”

“The youkai,” Natori locked eyes with Natsume, making sure to not break that connection, “I came here to investigate people who went missing…but I came here following one of the shadows. It wasn’t you who brought me here. And I doubt that everyone who came here came on their own accord.”

Natori felt the shadow inside of him begin to twitch. He ignored the sickness he felt from it.

“Natsume,” he continued, talking faster as the shadow inside began to stir, “In my pocket, there’s – ”

A jolt.

Natori was numb. Natori felt himself lurch over, the only thing keeping him upright was the rope collar around his neck. Natori could hear the distant words of Natsume’s voice, too jumbled to even decipher. His view shifted, Natsume pushed him back up against the roots and checked his injured arm. Natsume looked back up and called his name. Natori couldn’t hear, only deciphering the syllables on his lips. Na. To. Ri. 

Natori screamed for Natsume to check his back pocket. Their ticket to freedom was right there, if his slips had managed alright. Youkai couldn’t touch them, he was sure. They had to be there!

But with every internal scream, the youkai inside grew larger, as if it had completely removed Natori to wear Natori like skin. Natori was pushed out, and the darkness settled in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natsume Yuujinchou Roku was announced for the spring season! Yay~
> 
> Lately, I've been playing a lot of Final Fantasy XV and Tales of Berseria. Those games are too good. Takes up all of my time outside of work. Such is the struggle.


	6. Escape

“Have all the exorcisms been performed?”

“Yes. Were you expecting otherwise?”

“Of course not, Master Matoba.”

Drops of rain dripped in front of him, falling from the umbrella a shiki delicately held over him. He stood in the shadows, hidden from plain sight, a phone to his ear and the usual smile on his lips. The rain had stopped in the morning, yet picked up again as the day went on. Perhaps it was just the bad luck that came with such a congregation of youkai into a town such as this. 

Regardless, it was annoying. When the weather was bad, it was easier for youkai to hide and play tricks on the eyes. Not his, of course, but to many lesser exorcists who became inconveniences. 

“I’m remaining in this town a while longer. Send me a list of available plots of land in the area. Preferably in a secluded space.”

“Yes, Master Matoba.”

He shut his phone and put it away, taking the umbrella from the shiki as he began another round around the town. This place had been quite the experience to investigate. Various youkai taking residence, disappearances that were obviously linked to the supernatural, and another mystery about the one called Reiko. The longer he spent in the town, the more reasonable it became to consider placing another branch nearby. If the activity kept up, then one clan would take the chance eventually. It would have to be the Matoba clan.

He walked down one of the main roads, where the Fujiwara residence was. How curious it was that Reiko was mentioned so close to that house, and even more so that youkai tried to flood it the second he exorcised the one inside. Nothing seemed special about such a house. It was simply an elderly couple with no connections to the world of exorcists. Fujiwara wasn’t even the name of a dead clan. 

The sheer confusion of it all just made him want to know all the more.

_Reiko isn’t there, you know._

In seconds, Matoba pulled out a seal and threw it to his left, where a shadowy blob lurked. The shadow twisted, angling so the paper flew right by and made an imprint in the grass. It swam across the dirt as if it were on a river, flowing away until it was at the end of the road, peering at him with white, veiny eyes.

_I know where Reiko is. She’s with the exorcist._

Exorcist? 

_Follow me._

The shadow darted away. 

Various options laid before him. He had half a mind to dispose of the youkai like he had the similar creatures before. But…it intrigued him. 

Just what else did it know, he wondered.

Matoba waited, instead sending a passive wave to his shiki.

“Fetch my bow and quiver. Bring other servants. And be fast.”

The shiki vanished, leaving Matoba alone to casually follow the youkai at his own leisure. Matoba wasn’t stupid. This was some sort of trap or trick by the youkai. He wasn’t going to blindly chase a tiny shadow like an idiot. He was going to make the shadow wait. He was going to bring along his own youkai. He was going to find the source of this trickery and force the information he desired right from its mouth.

The shadow was patient, always waiting at the end of a street or behind a tree if Matoba took too long. Even more evidence that it was not to be trusted. 

As the following game drew on, they grew farther away from civilization. Buildings vanished, giving way to tree lines. Thankfully, the rain also began to slow down, and Matoba eventually could fold up his umbrella. 

And as the two reached a tree line to the south of town, three shiki appeared, one holding Matoba’s bow and a quiver full of specialty arrows. Matoba traded the umbrella for his belongings, quickly putting the quiver on his back, pulling one arrow out to be ready if he had to fire. 

Just as the shadow got close enough to the tree line, it darted into a bush, and he could hear rustling that only grew fainter and fainter.

_Follow me, exorcist._

Matoba only smirked.

This youkai barely knew what it was dealing with.

He motioned for the shiki to follow before rushing into the woods, following only the faint pathway of the shadow. The ground was wet, muddy, getting his pant legs dirty with every step. Though the rain had stopped, it still felt like it poured within the trees, water trickling down every leaf of every tree. Matoba could only hope that whatever trap the youkai laid, that it would be soon, if only to not ruin everything he wore for a pointless surprise attack.

And then, silence.

Matoba stopped, taking a careful look around. 

There was small movement to his right. A shadow lunged out, aiming for his mouth.

Matoba’s shiki knocked it out of the way, and Matoba quickly drew an arrow and let it fly, piercing the shadow into tattered flecks of black.

The moment that small shadow was exorcised, multi-toned shrieks resounded all around him, scratching against his ears. In seconds, shadows appeared from all around him, slinking together in a small patch of mud, growing, combining. It grew in lumps, with each lump melting down the ever-growing creature. What was left was a larger version of what Matoba had encountered before, with larger eyes that seemed even more unnerving than before.

A youkai that could split its consciousness into smaller parts? Those were rare.

And valuable, if tamed correctly.

So what to do?

He let another arrow fly. The youkai twisted, but too slowly. The arrowhead pierced its left side, and a hole opened up in a blinding white. The screaming crushed his mind, making him wince in pain as the larger shadow split back apart to avoid the arrow as much as it could. 

Then, movement above.

His eyes drew up to see a shadow in the tree above, holding a large rock.

It dropped.

Impact.

\--

Screams from inside Natori’s skull tore his eyes open, dropping him out of the darkness.

_”oUt! i nEEd OuT!”_

The voiced clawed his brain, scratching its tendrils up and down his brain. Natori fell forward, choking when only the rope around his neck kept him from falling. Everything spiked white between the feeling of tugging and pushing inside. The shadow pushed forward on his stomach, as if trying to break the skin and escape. Natori couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t feel. 

There was someone in front of him. Natsume. His mouth moved but he couldn’t understand. Natori tried to say something. He couldn’t breathe. Oh Gods, he couldn’t breathe. 

Then, it went up. It dug into the inside of his neck, piercing him through. Natori’s mouth opened, jaw forced open. The shadow pushed his neck tighter into the rope as it moved up. Spikes of pain shot through him with every lifted claw of the shadow inside of him. 

He tasted blood. 

And then, he saw black ooze from his lips in a cloud, slipping out of him.

He only watched as the shadow clouded his senses, staring back at him with empty white eyes.

And once the blood left his tongue, everything seemed so much clearer than it had been for a long time.

The shadow darted from his mouth to the rooted ceiling, escaping through the cracks.

“N-Natori! Are you alright? Natori?”

Natsume’s hands were on his shoulders, keeping him steady so the rope wouldn’t choke him. Natori could only listen to the voice. Had Natsume’s voice always been so loud? He had always heard the voice as if it were spoken from the end of a long tunnel. 

His eyes wandered around the rooted prison they were in. Had the roots always had moss growing on the cracks? Rocks jutting from the sides? Bugs crawling in the dirt?

A jolt came from his arm.

Had the pain always been so bad?

“Natori?”

Natsume called his name again, quieter this time.

Natori looked at Natsume, “We’re getting out of here.”

He didn’t know why or how. He didn’t know why the youkai had to leave his body. He didn’t care. They were going to escape before Natori was put under that spell again. Before Natsume was subjected to the youkai’s feeding again. Before this became worse than it already was.

Natori reached back with his free hand to grab the small paper man from his back pocket. He could feel a small stir as he touched it, his power reacting. Good. It hadn’t been damaged.

He grabbed it, holding it forward in the palm of his hand. Natsume slowly lowered his hands from Natori’s shoulders, turning his attention to the small paper man. It jolted up to float in Natori’s hand. 

Go.

The paper man was gone, the only remnants a small breeze of wind trailing through a crack in the roots.

“W…” Natsume looked up at him with wide, confused eyes, “What was that?”

“Help,” Natori answered with a small smile, trying to fight off the flashes of white pain from his arm, “I’m sending for help.”

Natsume looked again to the small gap of roots the paper man had escaped from. Then, something seemed to cross his mind. He looked back at Natori, his mouth open.

Then, a shadow above the cage.

Natsume stiffened, eyes wide as he looked up. Natori followed his gaze.

The one-eyed youkai was there, the eternal smile on its face.

“Hm…what was that I just saw leaving the cage?”

Natori couldn’t help but become tense, calculating the time it would take for his familiars to arrive.

“You wouldn’t dare to act against me now, would you, exorcist?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact. In my original outline, Matoba was only going to have a small cameo. Sneaky exorcist just butts into everyone's problems, am I right? 
> 
> This was also planned to be a much larger chapter, but I decided to split it into two separate chapters. So sorry if there's too much Matoba for your tastes lol
> 
> Also I just realized that I have Tanuma tagged even though he has yet to make an appearance! Don't worry, he's coming eventually! The second phase of this story is about to begin, and Tanuma's only in that section!
> 
> In other news, thank you guys for 100 kudos! I'm happy that people seem to like what I have to offer!


	7. Beyond the Roots

Fire burst through his broken arm as he was slammed into the wall, a large, distorted hand holding him upright. Yelps of pain tore up his throat as the hand pressed harder and harder against him, until he could feel every crack and rivet of the rooted wall press into his back, embedding themselves into his skin. Through clenched eyelids he could see the eye of the paper youkai staring at him, the eternal grin beneath.

And Natsume trembled near him, eyes wide open and staring at him with absolute fear in his eyes. 

“What did you send out?” the paper youkai asked, one long, disjointed finger pulling against the rope around Natori’s neck. The rope pushed down on his windpipe until he couldn’t breathe. Natori desperately tried to squirm out of the youkai’s grip, but struggling made the fire in his arm worse, the pain throughout his body scream. But he couldn’t breathe.

Until the rope was loosened. 

“Speak.”

Natori wasn’t taking that shit anymore.

“I-I’m…not sure…” Natori’s breath was shallow, voice weak and unsteady. But his eyes he kept level, glaring at the youkai with whatever control he could muster. In the corner of his eye, he could see the roots that hung over them all, a picture of the outside forest peeking through the cracks.

_Come on, Urihime…Sasago…_

The hand pressed even harder down on him. Natori felt a scream bubble up from his core, but he kept his mouth shut, letting his pain seethe through clenched teeth. His heart was beating hard in his ears, nearly drowning out everything else.

“ _Speak._ ”

The pressure against his body wasn’t letting up. Despite the pain, Natori could feel a sarcastic laugh come easily to his lips. Hadn’t he already won? His familiars were on the way. Any moment, he would see their shadows pour into the natural cage.

Right?

“S...Screw you.”

The pressure increased. Pressure built up in his torso.

_Snap._

He was screaming. He was screaming and it was hard to breathe. He could see Natsume staring at him with his own mouth open but Natori couldn’t hear anything but his own heart and the pain and the pressure that wouldn’t go away.

“Tsk. I should have killed you when my servant first brought you here. Natsume, we’re leaving. But first…I’m going to leave a gift for the exorcists…”

Natori couldn’t breathe. The pain drowned everything out. Everything except the youkai’s eye, Natsume’s mouth opened in a scream, and one thought.

He didn’t want to die.

Natori’s eyes grazed the top of the roots.

One shadow above them.

One shadow wielding a bow, pointed down at them.

It fired, something long piercing through the roots and into the back of the paper youkai.

Everything was cloaked in white. Pressure was dropped from Natori’s chest, and he dropped to his knees, the rope around his neck the only thing from keeping him from falling to the ground. Every breath was a fire in his lungs.

His ears were filled with shrill screams. The light in front of him was writhing in agony, tendrils of deformed white sprouting out every direction. Natori panted, looking up and away from the blinding light to see the shadow launch another arrow.

An audible thunk. One final, pulsing scream.

Darkness, silence. The only remains being two long arrows with bloody seals wrapped around the shafts.

Natsume and Natori sat there in silence for a moment, Natori’s pained, shallow breaths the only noise echoing in the rooted cage. Through half-open eyelids, Natori looked over at Natsume. The boy was staring at those two arrows, long hair curtained over his features. But he could see the pale face, the wide, amber eyes, the tremble of his skin.

“Can I assume you’re still alive down there, _Shuuichi_?”

Never before had Natori been so grateful to hear Matoba’s voice. Grateful, with a sour aftertaste.

Natori took in a shallow breath, wincing when there was a spike of pain in his core, “W…Would it be better if I wasn’t?”

A small chuckle descended from the outside. No answer followed.

“Master Natori!”

Two more shadowy figures appeared above, one crouching down to one of the larger openings. Natori felt a smile of relief. There they were. Any longer, and he was going to get worried.

“Sasago…” Natori paused as another spike of pain ran through his body, “W-We’re tied up down here. We’ll need help getting out.”

“Right. I’ll make a suitable opening.”

Natori looked over at Natsume, who was still fixated on the two arrows in front of them, “Natsume…”

Natsume jumped, as if he had been broken from a trance. He looked over at Natori with unsure eyes. Like he wasn’t sure whether this was real or not. Or whether this was some trick. 

Natori tried to give him a reassuring smile, despite the fire coursing through his nerves, “We’re safe.”

Roots cut out from above, falling down to the space in front of him. Natori looked up, seeing the picture above them much more clearly than before. Urihime and Sasago looked down on them, their expressions soon distorting to concern over their injured master. In the shadows, Natori could see Matoba holding down the seal over his right eye, blood running down his face and pouring over the back of his hand.

Somehow that made Matoba’s rescue a little easier to swallow. Natori had never seen that smug asshole injured like that before. There were questions, of course, but the tiniest sliver of him was pretty damn satisfied.

Soon, Sasago was down, cutting away the ropes around their necks. The whole time Natsume just stared with a dazed expression.

As if he were living a dream.

\--

_”rEiKo’S gOnE! ReIkO’s GoNe!”_

_A disjointed voice made up of a thousand choruses screamed as it fled desperately through the trees, bubbles of black oozing from its form. Reiko escaped! Her captor was dead! Reiko would know! Reiko would take it first!_

_No, it was theirs! It was all theirs! Reiko would have to go away! Go away to another cage with another master! Reiko couldn’t take it. Not when they were so close!_

_“rEiKOoOoOoOoO!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there. Been a while, right?
> 
> Sorry for the long wait! Soon after the previous chapter was published, I dedicated most of my time for preparing for a convention in the middle of March. Since it was also the first time I had to travel a very long distance for a convention, add the fact that I would be doing this all by myself, I couldn't think of much else. It was a complete blast, though! However, fanfiction took to the backburner afterwards >.>
> 
> I do have the next chapter started, though! As of this chapter, the first half of this fanfic is completely finished and we're moving onto the second half! Hope you'll stick around!
> 
> Two questions for everyone! One, how are you guys enjoying Natsume Yuujinchou Roku so far? I'm loving it! Natori is making me so frustrated right now, though ;v; I love him but I hate him. Two, are any of you going to make it to Otakon 2017 in August? I'll be dressed as Natsume on Otakon Thursday and will be on the lookout for other fans the rest of the weekend! Would love to talk to other fans there!


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